Real Name: Patricia Ann Teer Carlton
Nicknames: Patricia Ann Snyder, Patricia Carlton, Patricia Ann Georgensen
Location: Houston, Texas
Date: January 14, 1971
Bio[]
Occupation: Unrevealed
Date of Birth: January 24, 1942
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 120 pounds
Marital Status: Married
Characteristics: White female. Brown hair, hazel eyes.
Case[]
Details: In spring 1967, Mary Ann Urick went to visit her sister, Patricia "Pat" Teer, a married mother of three young children. En route, she had an intense feeling of dread. When she arrived at Pat's house, she found her children unattended. Her daughter told Mary Ann that she was asleep in the bedroom. When she went in the room, she found Pat unconscious on her bed.
Doctors determined that an aneurysm was blocking blood flow to Pat's brain. A risky surgery was done in which the artery in her neck had to be clamped off. The surgery was successful, but an unexpected complication occurred. When she awoke, she had no idea who she was. She could not recognize Mary Ann, her husband, or even her children. She had to be taught everything again, even how to eat. Her husband divorced her and took custody of the children, leaving her to recover and rebuild her life on her own.
In November 1968, a woman who was hired to care for Pat called Mary Ann and told her that Pat had wandered off. Six weeks later, she was picked up for vagrancy in Alabama, where she had lived when she was younger. Mary Ann immediately came to pick her up. She claimed that she could not remember how she got to Alabama.
Later on, Pat met a construction worker named Troy Carlton, who was a friend of Mary Ann and her husband. They dated for several months and married on January 3, 1969. When he learned of her medical problems, he became even more concerned for her. He encouraged her to fight for joint custody of her children and a court hearing was scheduled for May 1969.
Seven days before the hearing, Troy came home for lunch and found that Pat had vanished. She had left her purse, wallet, money, and keys behind. Mary Ann told him that she had wandered off before. After searching for three weeks, She was sighted on the other side of Houston. He immediately went and picked her up. She could not explain where she had been for those weeks.
Pat wandered off seven more times within the next year. The last time she left was on January 14, 1971, two years after her marriage to Troy. She carried no identification or money with her. For thirteen months, there was no trace of her. Then, she surfaced at a welfare office in San Diego, California. Her memory had partially returned; she gave a welfare worker her maiden name and her birthplace. The worker was able to contact one of her aunts in Birmingham. However, she believed that she was still in Houston and did nothing to follow up.
One of the last reported sightings of Pat was in Seattle, Washington, in 1977, when she was arrested. However, she has not been seen since. Troy eventually remarried in 1975, but he remains fully supportive in her search. He and her family are hoping that she is somewhere safe and will be found.
Suspects: Foul play was not suspected in her disappearance.
Extra Notes: This case first aired on the October 14, 1992 episode. It was one of the few missing person ones featured in which the person is located alive and well.
Results: Solved. Sadly, Troy passed away in 1997 without ever finding Pat. However, she was located alive and safe, living in San Francisco, California in August of 2004, thirty-three years after she disappeared. She had lost several parts of her memory due to another stroke that occurred after she vanished, but when found she still recognized and remembered her two sisters, Barbara and Mary Ann. In October, she was reunited with them and her children.
Pat's family reports that she is safe and living with them, and has not wandered off since. Sadly, Mary Ann passed away in 2005, only a year after their reunion, while Barbara passed away in 2020.
Links:
- Doe Network Closed Cases - 2004
- Ancestry Message Board on Pat
- Another Ancestry Message Board on Pat
- SitcomsOnline Discussion of Pat Carlton
- Mary Ann Urick on Find a Grave